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The Microbiome Within a Microbe: Rethinking Blastocystis Biology https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jeu.70056 #protists #microbiome

Discovery of a photophobic response in #Apusomonads reveals insights into Opisthokont origins https://phys.org/news/2026-02-discovery-photophobic-response-apusomonads-reveals.html

New #ISEPpapers! Photophobic response in Podomonas kaiyoae is mediated by coordination of cilia, actin filaments: Aika Shibata et al. https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-025-09209-y

#Protists #Microbes #Evolution

Left: schematic evolutionary tree of eukaryotes highlighting the position of apusomonads close to opisthokonts. Right: Simple schematic representation of the cell of apusomonads.

Happy to have contributed to the #protists section of this #ERGA whitepaper 👉 From Permits to Samples: Addressing Key Challenges for High-Quality Reference Genome Generation in Europe https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1755-0998.70100

Genetic modification in dinoflagellate algae: Some successes, many failures https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1434461026000040 #protists

Charting the landscape of cytoskeletal diversity in microbial eukaryotes https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674%2825%2901127-4 #protists

Single-cell phylogenomics identifies major groups of marine eugregarine endosymbionts (Apicomplexa) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790326000187 #protists #symbionts

Eukan: a fully automated nuclear genome annotation pipeline for less studied and divergent eukaryotes https://academic.oup.com/nargab/article/8/1/lqag003/8431146 #protists

New #ISEPpapers! Single-cell #phylogenomics identifies major groups of marine eugregarine endosymbionts (Apicomplexa) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1055790326000187

#protists #microbes #parasites #evolution #phylogeny #symbiosis

microscopic photos of microbial cells and an evolutionary tree

How a #parasite gave up sex to find more hosts—and why its victory won't last https://phys.org/news/2026-01-parasite-gave-sex-hosts-victory.html

Host range expansion of asexual parasite can be explained by loss of adaptions in Muller’s Ratchet https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-65843-4

"an asexual lineage of #Giardia managed to infect a wider range of hosts than its sexual ancestor... at a cost. Because these #parasites don't exchange genetic material, harmful mutations build up over time, leading to eventual collapse"

#Protists #Microbes #Evolution

electron microscopy picture of a microbial cell with multiple flagella

New #ISEPpapers! A genetic transformation system for the heterotrophic diatom #Nitzschia putrida (Bacillariophyceae) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jpy.70070

#Protists #Algae #Microbes #Diatoms

microscopic photos of elongated algal cells under light and fluorescence microscopy

Shelled #amoeba crawls like an octopus, shifting tactics on the go https://phys.org/news/2026-01-shelled-amoeba-octopus-shifting-tactics.html https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/pjab/advpub/0/advpub_pjab.102.001/_html/-char/en

"Commonly found in #peatlands and freshwater environments, #Arcella belongs to a group called testate #amoebae, characterized by having its body enclosed, almost entirely, within a dome-shaped shell... Through an opening on its underside, Arcella can mold its cell body to create finger-like projections called #pseudopodia to capture prey and move around."

#Protists #Microbes

microscopic photos of a moving amoeba in a hemispherical shell

New #ISEPpapers! Legacies of consecutive summer droughts on soil-borne plant parasitic #protists (Oomycota and Phytomyxea) and protistan consumers (Cercozoa) along an experimental plant diversity gradient https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.70756

#Microbes #Parasites #Drought

a complicated figure from the linked paper that summarizes abundances of microbes

New #ISEPpapers #preprint! Environmental #phylogenetics supports a steady diversification of crown #eukaryotes starting from the mid Proterozoic https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.693929v1.full

#Protists #Microbes #Evolution #Phylogeny #Proterozoic #Eukaryogenesis

a complicated figure from the linked paper showing a large circular evolutionary tree and two graphs

New #ISEPpapers! The mitochondrial proteome of #diplonemids: from conventional pathways to eccentric RNA editing and transcript processing https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12864-025-12233-1

#Protists #Microbes #Mitochondria #Proteomics #Evolution

schematic representation of various proteins in mitochondria of a microbial cell

Photographing the hidden world of slime mould https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9d9409p76qo

"These images, captured by photographer Barry Webb, provide a close-up view of single-celled #SlimeMoulds. A view that would not be possible with the naked eye... It's not fungi, it's not a plant, it's not animal... one picture would not do them justice, you can get virtually nothing in focus... he uses focus bracketing, where dozens of photos are taken."

#Protists #Microbes #SlimeMolds #Photography

close-up photo of tiny pink mushroom-like fruiting bodies of slime moulds

Humanity should not expect to be able to communicate with extraterrestrial life, considering that there are hardly any life forms on Earth that we are able to fully communicate with. How many species of plants, bacteria, archea, or protists can humans fully communicate with?
#aliens #extraterrestrials #firstcontact #language #interspeciescommunication #animals #plants #bacteria #archea #protists #humans #intelligentlife